Shameless Screen Entertainment Round-up

It’s been a while since we here at Attack From Planet B has had a look into the murky world of Shameless Screen Entertainment, so we thought we better had to. So we’re going to a look at a few of the latest offerings that have come our way.

The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh

A ‘violent masterpiece’ directed by Sergio Martino (Torso)

An ambassador’s wife discovers that one of the men in her life – either her husband, an ex-lover or her current lover – may be a vicious serial killer. This beautiful hypnotic film depicts a series of grisly murders, the victims of which all have some connection to our heroine, Mrs. Julie Wardh (the stunning queen of 1970’s Italian Giallo cinema: Edwige Fenech)

Voted one of the top Giallos ever, not only for its surreal S&M imagery featuring plenty of suspense, sleaze, nudity and gruesome killings but also because it this is the film which placed Edwige Fenech (Strip Nude For Your Killer) in the hearts of besotted fans around the world.

Almost Human

Guilio Sacchi (Tomas Milian) is a small-time hood disillusioned with the crime syndicate for which he works. Looking to make some big money fast, he and some friends kidnap the beautiful Marilù (Laura Belli), the daughter of a billionaire and demand 500 million Lira as ransom. However, hot on his heels is Inspector Grandi (Henry Silva) a hardened cop who only becomes more hell-bent on catching Guilio and his gang with each corpse he finds! Director Lenzi reflects on the “Years of Lead” in Italy, a time when terrorists caused chaos and police action was judged as deficient.

Almost Human is one of Umberto Lenzi’s (Cannibal Ferox, Oasis of Fear) best and most highly-regarded films, featuring a standout performance from Milian and score composed by Ennio Morricone. This Shameless Screen Entertainment release will be a must-have for all lovers of Euro-crime and polizieschi movies.

Don’t Torture a Duckling

In a small Italian village, pre-adolescent boys are turning up dead and evidence points to either the local witch (Florinda Bolkan), or a beautiful, bored, city girl (Barbara Bouchet) hiding out after a drug scandal…

From Lucio Fulci, the infamous director of The Beyond and The New York Ripper, comes this accomplished, stylish thriller in the Italian ‘giallo’ genre. Naturalistic settings, stunning make-up effects and inspired use of music lend a genuinely shocking intensity to a violent tale of tragedy, prejudice and murder, depicting a world in which injustice goes unpunished, moral values are a sham, and innocence is destroyed. Don’t Torture a Duckling is also a stinging attack on the Italian Establishment which allegedly resulted in Lucio Fulci being blacklisted for many years.

A strong story full of challenging moral concepts, Don’t Torture a Duckling is as brutal and disturbing as Lucio Fulci’s horror films, but it’s also his most powerful and morally focussed work, and a magnificent high point in his long and distinguished career.

The House on the Edge of the Park

When Ruggero Deodato, the director of über-controversial CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, teamed up with David Hess, the notorious -“Krug”- star of The Last House on the Left, their maverick talents exploded in the feat of unrelenting sleaze that is THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK.

Alex (Hess) is a psychopath and his friend Ricky (Giovanni L Radice) an easily led simpleton. When the unlikely pair are invited to an upscale house party where they are ridiculed by their debauched young hosts, Alex decides that he and his straight edged razor deserve some fun. Together the two streetwise punks take the unprepared partygoers on a journey of violence, debasement and forced sex. And that’s before events turn really nasty…

Deodato’s unwavering gritty direction keeps the tension unbearably tight and the psychological nuances of Hess and Radice’s powerhouse performances deliver uncomfortably challenging scenes so close to the bone that this originally banned Video Nasty remains one of the most contentious pictures in UK censorship history.